{"id":93673,"date":"2017-09-13T08:57:11","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T08:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=93673"},"modified":"2025-07-01T23:47:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T06:47:15","slug":"dont-let-your-pc-make-money-for-somebody-else","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/dont-let-your-pc-make-money-for-somebody-else\/","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t let your PC make money for Somebody Else"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There is more than one way to skin a cat is a particularly morbid saying but it is one that most definitely applies to the philosophies of <strong>hackers and cyber-crimianls<\/strong>. They\u2019re constantly looking for different ways of making money through the use of their <strong>malware and virus programs<\/strong>. One such way that has been gaining popularity recently is the <strong>Miner class of malware.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The rise of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have seen a rise in c<strong>ryptocurrency miners<\/strong> who seek to use the hardware capabilities of their pcs to <strong>legally mine the valuable cryptocurrencies<\/strong>. A standard PC could raise anything from a few cents to a few dollars a day running legal mining software. Hackers and cyber criminals have recognized this, however, and they\u2019ve set about <strong>installing and hiding miners on as many PCs as they can so that can use other people\u2019s hardware capabilities to illegally make money for them.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The obvious problem here, should some illegal ming software be installed on your PC, is <strong>computer slow down<\/strong>. Cryptocurrency mining is, necessarily so, a resource heavy endeavor. If your PC is <strong>working round the clock verifying cryptocurrency transactions<\/strong> it is going to have a serious effect on your computer\u2019s performance when carrying out other tasks.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_93675\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-93675\" style=\"width: 549px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-93675\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/09\/170829_miners-rise-0.png\" alt=\"170829_miners-rise-0\" width=\"549\" height=\"323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/09\/170829_miners-rise-0.png 754w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/09\/170829_miners-rise-0-300x177.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 549px) 100vw, 549px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-93675\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Number of users Kaspersky Lab protected from malicious cryptocurrency miners from 2011 to 2017 (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/securelist.com\/miners-on-the-rise\/81706\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kaspersky<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Since 2013 Kaspersky Labs have reported that they\u2019ve seen a <strong>huge increase\u00a0<\/strong>in the number of their users who have encountered illegal cryptocurrency mining software. Throughout the <strong>whole of 2014 only 205,000 users were exposed<\/strong> to this type of threat but <strong>after only 8 months of 2017 a staggering 1.65 million had been targeted.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This illegal software will install itself onto PCs via malicious ads for legal cryptocurrency mining software. It&#8217;ll then send all profits to <strong>the owner of the software rather than the owner of the PC.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re looking to get into cryptocurrency mining as a hobby or you\u2019re considering investing in hardware that could see you earn some extra money on the side you need to be <strong>very careful when downloading mining software<\/strong>. You should consult sites like Kaspersky and make sure that you\u2019re following advice from reputable sites.<\/p>\n<p>It is also important that you keep your PC safe from all other types of threat so make sure you click on the related links below.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Related Links<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__title\" data-auto=\"article-name\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/features.en.softonic.com\/this-one-file-will-make-you-safe-from-ransomware-attacks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">THIS ONE FILE WILL MAKE YOU SAFE FROM RANSOMWARE ATTACKS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__title\" data-auto=\"article-name\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/features.en.softonic.com\/every-day-tips-security-eng\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">7 TIPS TO EASILY FIGHT THE RANSOMWARE THREAT<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__title\" data-auto=\"article-name\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/features.en.softonic.com\/ransomware-the-growing-global-threat-that-could-cost-you-big\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">RANSOMWARE: THE GROWING GLOBAL THREAT THAT COULD COST YOU BIG<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"article__header-actions\">\n<p class=\"article__title\" data-auto=\"article-name\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/features.en.softonic.com\/cybersecurity-if-youre-a-windows-user-update-now\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CYBERSECURITY: IF YOU\u2019RE A WINDOWS USER, UPDATE NOW<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"article__header-actions\">\n<p class=\"article__title\" data-auto=\"article-name\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/features.en.softonic.com\/5-mistakes-internet-security-risk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">5 MISTAKES THAT PUT YOUR INTERNET SECURITY AT RISK<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Via: <a href=\"https:\/\/securelist.com\/miners-on-the-rise\/81706\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kaspersky labs<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifewire.com\/cryptocoin-mining-for-beginners-2483064\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lifewire<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is more than one way to skin a cat is a particularly morbid saying but it is one that most definitely applies to the philosophies of hackers and cyber-crimianls. They\u2019re constantly looking for different ways of making money through the use of their malware and virus programs. One such way that has been gaining &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/dont-let-your-pc-make-money-for-somebody-else\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Don&#8217;t let your PC make money for Somebody Else&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9073,"featured_media":93676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":1},"categories":[],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-93673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328579,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93673\/revisions\/328579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93673"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=93673"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=93673"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=93673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}